Genius Gamer Reborn into a Family of Heroes

Chapter 47

Tower of Magic, Golem, Test

It had already been a month since Harang began challenging the incarnation of Natalen.

Though it was a short time, Harang had rapidly learned how to counter the “Great Mage Duel” within just that month.

‘He’s an excellent practice opponent. Truly.’

“You seem quite spirited today, Kaladan boy.”

Harang could understand why Natalen was once called the Great Sage of the past. He never engaged in a magic duel using just one approach.

It felt as though he was facing dozens of completely different mages, as Natalen changed his strategy every time Harang was defeated.

It wasn’t just a matter of switching from ice-based magic to fire-based magic.

He would be aggressive or defensive.

Sometimes, he would show extraordinary connections between spells, or even suppress Harang with the simplest of magic.

As Harang experienced countless magical strategies, his ability to respond grew rapidly.

Clang!

“Oh my! You startled me!”

When Harang’s Cheongwolheun brushed past the neck of Natalen’s armor, Natalen clapped his hands in surprise.

Bang! The floor on both sides rose up, sandwiching Harang.

But as if he had anticipated it, Harang swung his sword to the right, creating space in the wall. He then rolled into the gap, extending his left hand.

“[Fire Bullet]”

A small flame shot out like a bullet, aiming for Natalen’s forehead, but he easily blocked it with a small defensive spell.

“Your skill in mixing magic has improved, but do you think that would work on me?”

Boom! When Natalen stomped his foot, trees sprouted up, grabbing Harang’s ankles. Then, as if wielding something with both hands, a blue hammer appeared and struck Harang’s head.

Clang!

Though Harang adopted a defensive stance, he couldn’t fully absorb the impact due to his bound ankles, causing him to faint on the spot. Natalen activated a recovery field for the fallen Harang, calming his slightly excited heart.

‘I don’t have a heart, but I can almost feel it beating after so long.’

As a mage, no, as a warrior, had there ever been a time he was this surprised?

‘This growth speed is unbelievable.’

On the first day, Natalen had subdued Harang with just two spells, but now he had to exchange at least 20 moves to bring him down.

Had Harang been facing an ordinary 5-star mage, it wouldn’t have been surprising if he had won long ago.

But this was Natalen, not just anyone. Natalen, who once stood as a comrade of Hero Kaladan, burning countless demons and dark guardians. Against the experience and skill of Natalen, a 5-star golem, Harang was already showing this level of achievement?

“But still, boy, it seems you won’t be seeing the Tower of Magic within three months. Your growth speed is terrifying, but time is still against you.”

“Ugh…”

As Harang regained consciousness, Natalen approached and asked him,

“Will you continue?”

“…No, I’ll stop here for today.”

“Hm? Why? Usually, you wouldn’t stop after this level of impact.”

“I saw it.”

“Saw what?”

Without saying more, Harang sat down in a meditative position and unexpectedly fell into deep thought.

‘What kind of concentration is this…?’

Seeing him suddenly slip into meditation right after a conversation made it hard to believe he was even human.

‘And what did he mean by “saw it”?’

When Natalen had just struck Harang down, he had, for the first time, reused a strategy he had used before.

That was the key point.

If Natalen, who could use 6-star magic, had been able to employ even more diverse strategies, but as a 5-star, all of his strategies and spell combinations had already been absorbed by Harang’s eyes.

Having seen all of Natalen’s attack patterns, it was now truly time for Harang to enter into a “simulation.”

“What is this boy… really doing?”

As Harang trembled and sweated profusely, Natalen tilted his head.

“Is he doing image training? But wouldn’t learning by taking hits be faster?”

Since there was no reason to strike down a Kaladan boy who wasn’t actively challenging him, Natalen watched Harang’s meditation.

Seeing his expression twitching as he delved terrifyingly deep into his thoughts, it really seemed as though he was facing Natalen with all seriousness.

‘…Wait, hold on. Is this for real?’

Whoosh…!! Natalen felt a hot wave of energy approaching him.

He wasn’t doing anything, just sitting quietly, but it felt as though he was engaged in a full-blown battle with Harang.

‘If it weren’t me, I wouldn’t even be able to feel this…!’

After Harang entered his meditation, half a day and several more hours passed.

As the moon set and dawn began to break,

Flash! Harang opened his eyes, and Natalen felt a strange sense of déjà vu. It was a gaze he had seen before.

‘He really does resemble him…’

For a moment, Natalen almost felt the strength leave his body as he saw in Harang the image of Hero Kaladan.

‘No, he’s different from him, after all.’

Unlike Hero Kaladan, whose gaze was always filled with righteousness, this boy’s eyes were filled with relentless determination and desire.

The desire to become stronger!

The determination to survive!

And also…

An overwhelming sense of ambition.

Natalen felt it all emanating from the boy.

Natalen asked,

“Will you challenge me?”

Without even needing to answer, Harang rose to his feet, planted Cheongwolheun firmly into the ground, and spread his hands.

Fwoosh, fwoosh!

Two magic circles appeared in his palms. Though both were flames, one was Fire Bullet and the other was Fire Burn, distinctly different types of magic.

“Ha, dual casting? A kid who only used magic for support until now, when did you learn this?”

“I watched and learned.”

“…What?”

How?

A pure question arose in Natalen’s mind.

Dual casting required drawing two magic circles with both hands while calculating two separate formulas in the mind.

But this was something that even with exceptional talent and intellect, could not be achieved without consistent practice.

Only a 5-star mage who could substitute formula calculations with mana could use dual casting stably.

‘When did he practice this?’

At merely a 3-star level, he shouldn’t be able to perform the mana substitution for dual casting formulas.

He must have purely relied on his intellect to pull off dual casting, and to do it perfectly without practice?

‘Even with a hundred or a thousand days of practice, dual casting shouldn’t be possible…’

Natalen couldn’t help but let out a small laugh.

“Haha! Fine, if you want to challenge me with magic, I’ll match you.”

Flames and ice rose in each of his hands. Dual casting with opposing elements, something so difficult that even top-level mages would shrink away from it.

It was said that the legendary Natalen could cast more than five different elemental magics simultaneously, so this was just a fraction of the tricks he could pull off…

“But at your current level, can you withstand even five exchanges?”

Natalen’s voice rang out, filled with genuine excitement.

When Hero Kaladan had asked him to teach his descendant how to counter mages, Natalen never imagined it would be this enjoyable.

‘If I were still alive, and could remember this… I might be jealous of this clone of mine!’

Boom!! Natalen bombarded Harang with magic, and Harang responded.

Harang, as if determined to rely entirely on magic, deliberately chose to counter every attack with spells, even when he could have easily dodged them. If he failed, he took the hit and was knocked back.

At first glance, this might seem like a foolish decision, but this wasn’t an actual battle—rather, it was an excellent opportunity for practice.

Harang wasn’t thinking as a swordsman but was seizing this precious chance to develop as a mage.

As Natalen had predicted, Harang didn’t withstand more than five exchanges.

He crumbled after just three spell combinations.

But three days later, he endured five exchanges, and a week later, it took over ten spell combinations to bring him down.

By the end of the month, Harang had started to counterattack.

‘This growth rate is truly insane…’

When a 5-star mage goes up against a 3-star mage, the 5-star wins 99.99% of the time.

There’s never an exception.

But the fact that a 5-star mage had to use over 30 spells just to deal with a 3-star mage… Even Natalen thought it was a completely absurd situation.

‘Hah, I was once called the mightiest sorcerer…’

Natalen felt a tingling sensation all over his body. What if Harang were a 5-star mage like his incarnation?

‘I would still win… but I wouldn’t escape without difficulty.’

It was a laughable thought. In Natalen’s mind, memories of living as the strongest sorcerer for decades remained, yet here he was, struggling against a young boy who had only just begun to wield magic for about a month.

On the 60th day, early in the morning.

Fwoosh! Sssss…!!

As flames and ice rose from both of his hands, Natalen spoke with a tone full of joy.

“Today’s magic duel seems like it might yield a rather special result.”

“…Does it?”

“Indeed. It’s funny, but it’s the intuition of an old man who has lived long as a ‘sage.’ Will you challenge me right away?”

“…Yes. Please take care of me again today.”

As soon as Harang expressed his intent to challenge, Natalen clapped his hands.

Clap!!

Fire and ice collided, causing a small explosion.

Boom!

A veil of steam began to rise. Without pausing, Natalen extended his finger, shooting out a white beam of light.

Ziiiing!! The beam shot forward in a straight line, roaring as if it would pierce through everything in its path.

Any ordinary 3-star mage would have died instantly from these two consecutive attacks, but Natalen instinctively knew he hadn’t even scratched Harang.

When the mist cleared, revealing Harang lying flat on the ground, Natalen, anticipating this, quickly erected a shield.

Immediately, a barrage of ice spikes flew towards Natalen’s shield.

Clink, clink! The ice spikes embedded themselves into the translucent shield, seemingly unable to penetrate any further, yet they continued to gnaw away at the shield.

‘Oh?!’

Upon closer inspection, the ice spikes were spinning like drills, relentlessly wearing down the shield.

‘A combination of ice and wind magic!’

Natalen had initially thought Harang had used wind magic to clear the mist, but it turned out to be a feint for this technique.

‘That’s a combination I often use…’

But it was different. While Natalen frequently combined wind and ice magic, adding a feint by clearing the mist was purely Harang’s own clever touch.

‘He’s already perfectly absorbed my magic, and he’s taking it even further!’

As Natalen reinforced the shield to break the ice spikes, he looked up at the sky.

A shadow loomed overhead, a large square boulder was falling towards him.

It was a strategy to attack his head while he focused on shielding against the spikes, knowing that it was difficult to maintain two shields simultaneously.

‘Hah, this is another technique I often use!’

Natalen summoned three pillars from the ground to act as supports, holding the falling boulder above him.

Not stopping there, he summoned a spring from the ground, launching the boulder forward, and created an explosion of air in mid-air, sending the boulder hurtling back at Harang.

Boom!! Harang hastily raised a wall from the ground to block, but it was too much to fully stop the massive boulder that came flying like an arrow. He took a heavy hit and was forced back.

‘A gap…!’

Natalen didn’t miss the opportunity and summoned tree roots from the ground, attempting to bind Harang’s ankles.

Fwoosh! As soon as the roots emerged, they were engulfed in flames and withered away.

‘Huh?’

Realizing something was off, Natalen narrowed his eyes.

Whoosh!!

Around Harang’s body, a circle of fire appeared on the ground, slowly rising.

A 3-star spell, Fire Wall.

Originally a spell used against knights, it created a wall of fire to block the opponent’s advance and burn any who dared to approach.

“Memorize? Ha, when did you…!”

Natalen suddenly felt the weight of the passage of time. The ability to quickly memorize and store spells in this way was something that didn’t exist in ancient times.

‘Is he trying to completely nullify my wood-based magic? He’s pushing it. Fire Wall consumes a lot of mana.’

Even with the Silver Heart, Harang’s current mana core was struggling to sustain such a powerful spell.

Thinking Harang had overextended himself, Natalen decided to end it quickly and unleashed the magic he had been continuously casting.

‘Three Water Serpents.’

Swoosh! Three massive serpents made of water surged up behind Natalen, launching themselves at Harang.

Being a 5-star spell, it would easily extinguish the 3-star Fire Wall and deal a severe blow to Harang. Natalen even expected to finish Harang with this spell.

Whooosh!!

But suddenly, fierce winds began swirling around Harang’s body, causing the flames to grow larger. The combination of wind and fire, often used by mages who specialized in dual elements.

So far, this was something anyone could do.

“…Oh, right. You wouldn’t go down so easily.”

Not only did the flames grow larger, but they also began to rise into the sky, gathering in the air. The massive red orb, which continued to expand, had no distinct shape—just a seething mass of flames. Yet, Natalen couldn’t help but be honestly shocked.

‘Controlling flames with such precision by fanning them with wind…!’

Flames were one of the most difficult and complex elements to control.

Not only did it require mana manipulation, but the form itself had to be calculated and stabilized with formulas…

It was inconceivable that a mere 3-star mage could manage such detailed control.

‘It’s as if two mages are chanting spells at the same time!’

The massive flame that Harang had created radiated an intense energy, comparable to the power of a 4-star spell.

Again, the odds of a 3-star mage defeating a 5-star mage were less than 0.01%. It was nearly impossible without a miracle, and against the legendary sorcerer Natalen, hoping for such a miracle was pointless.

Thus, it was only natural that Harang’s flames were extinguished as they were torn apart by the three water serpents.

The result: Harang’s defeat.

Thud!

Harang collapsed to his knees on the ground, having exhausted all his mana and fallen into a state of fatigue.

As Natalen observed Harang, he found his fingers trembling.

‘Unbelievable.’

For a brief moment, Natalen… had considered the possibility of that 0.01% chance.

‘In that final moment, it was unmistakably in the shape of three serpents.’

Had Harang been trying to mimic the three water serpents? He had attempted to split his flame into three distinct parts.

Though he failed, and the flames were devoured by Natalen’s magic…

‘If, truly if, despite the low probability, that magic had succeeded?’

A shiver ran down his spine.

If Harang had succeeded… with just a 3-star spell, he would have unleashed a spell as powerful as a 5-star, and for a single moment, he would have fought on equal footing with Natalen.

Who in the world would believe such a thing?

That such a feat was even possible.

His chest warmed and pulsed with excitement.

This body of cold armor had no heart, yet why did it feel as though his chest was beating so fiercely?

Natalen approached the kneeling and groaning Harang, who was reeling from a deep dizziness, and extended his hand.

“Are you alright?”

“Ugh… That was truly incredible magic.”

At Harang’s words of admiration, Natalen gave a bitter smile. He had thought that as a 5-star mage, he would be able to teach Harang, but never before had he felt his own inadequacy so keenly.

His magic now felt like a shattered mug, or a newspaper torn apart by water—unfinished, incomplete… a work that was far from perfection.

Up until now, Natalen had never felt dissatisfied with 5-star magic, but the more he taught Harang, the more an emptiness seemed to swell in his heart.

‘I wish I could show you all my power… and teach you everything.’

All my power. I can’t show him all my power. It’s impossible. My past self made sure of that.

But…

Perhaps if my past self hadn’t seen this child, perhaps I wouldn’t have made this choice.

Maybe, just maybe, the heavens will permit it.

“Harang, child of Kaladan.”

“Yes, what is it?”

“There is something I wish to propose to you. It might seem extremely disrespectful and even insulting… But would you hear me out?”

Natalen asked with a sincere tone, and Harang, looking a bit taken aback, nodded.

“…Would you consider becoming my disciple and inheriting the Mythic Descent spell?”

It was a cautious question.

It had to be. Even in his era, for a mage to offer to teach a knight as a “disciple” was considered incredibly presumptuous.

In Natalen’s time, the status of mages had fallen so low that they couldn’t even dare to speak to knights…

Clasp!

“…Huh?!”

If Harang hadn’t suddenly rushed forward and grabbed both of Natalen’s hands, he might have continued down that self-deprecating line of thought.

“I-I will do it!”

“What? What do you mean?”

“That spell! I absolutely want to inherit it!”

“Uh… r-really?”

“Yes! It’s an honor!”

With Harang’s eyes sparkling like stars in the night sky as he spoke, Natalen found it difficult to distinguish whether this was a dream or reality.

Even though Harang was a descendant of Kaladan, Natalen had expected at least some hesitation at the thought of a knight becoming subordinate to a mage…

“Ha, haha. You really do resemble Kaladan, that guy, so much…”

Unconsciously, Natalen held his forehead.

Perhaps, he wasn’t sure, but…

If his tear ducts were still functional, he might have shown a rather undignified side of himself in front of the young boy.